If you know me well, you know I love choosing a word for the year. And I’ve gotten many members of the See Jane Write community in the practice of doing the same. One of my coaching clients has already picked her word for 2021. She chose UNDAUNTED.
That’s such a fantastic word. It’s both beautiful and powerful. Even though I chose my word for 2021 months ago (I’ll share it with you next month), I’ve been thinking a lot about how to embody and embrace the idea of being undaunted, too.
I landed my first paid Instagram brand collaboration. And I was invited to contribute a chapter for a book being curated by a high-profile journalist (and I will be well compensated).
Also, I got my taste buds back! (Along with killing cancer cells, chemo also temporarily kills your sense of taste.)
Let’s talk about your BIG, HAIRY, AUDACIOUS WRITING GOAL!
A BIG, HAIRY, AUDACIOUS GOAL (or BHAG) is a concept developed in the book Built to Last. A BHAG is a goal that’s clear and compelling and once that requires building for the long term and creates a sense of urgency.
So what’s a big, hairy, audacious writing goal?
I think it’s that writing goal you have that’s so big it scares you. The one that’s so ambitious that you’re afraid to tell anyone about it because you think they’ll laugh at you. Or maybe when you think about the goal you laugh at yourself.
That was me less than 2 years ago. I secretly wanted to quit my teaching job to be a full-time freelance writer. I have other BIG, HAIRY, AUDACIOUS GOALS and I knew that being a full-time freelance writer would give me the flexible schedule I needed to pursue them. But I was convinced that there was NO WAY I could make enough money to pay my bills and maintain a comfortable lifestyle on freelance writing income.
But guess what? I’ve done exactly that for over a year — in spite of cancer and in spite of a global pandemic that has rocked our economy.
There are three things that I think helped me achieve this goal.
When I was an English teacher, I kept a quote board in my classroom, and each October, I’d display this quote from Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables: “I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”
Football, fall weather, Smart Party, my husband’s birthday, and Halloween – I have many reasons to love October. Yet considering what a dumpster fire 2020 has been, I’m hesitant to get excited about anything these days.